Month: Jan 2019

The Wrong Bachelor – Alexandra Moody

by melissay1, posted in Book Review

The Wrong Bachelor by Alexandra Moody tells the story of Madi. Madi’s school is holding a dating competition to help to raise charity and she wants absolutely nothing to do with this competition. The school votes for one lucky bachelor and ten contestants to compete to be the bachelors date at prom. Despite Madi being in a relationship she is voted as one of the contestants and as its to raise money for charity she reluctantly agrees to take part – after all people are paying to vote for her so didn’t have much choice. What could go wrong except for the fact that the bachelor is Madi’s enemy Cole.

This book isn’t an original storyline, both characters hate each other and its a little predictable. Does that matter though? Not in the slightest. You know those books that make your heart flutter because it is just so insanely adorable? Yep, this book is 100% that category! It’s very rare that I fall instantly in love with certain parts of a book but this book had one particular part that I just want to read over and over again as you cant help but smile.

Despite both characters absolutely hating each other you can’t help but to like them both. Even when they’re just bickering with each other they’re likeable. Madi is strong minded whereas Cole is the perfect bachelor with his effortless talking to all the ladies – bar Madi! Even the other contestants of the competition were great, my personal favourite was Evan, the gay contestant trying to woo Cole’s attention despite him being straight. I found him hilarious and he made the book a little more light hearted.

Ok, this book was over exaggerated at times but at the end of the day the stories made characters are teenagers so of course they blow things completely out of proportion. Though to be fair in reality I probably would’ve reacted just as over the top in certain situations! It didn’t stop my enjoyment of this book at all, it was one of those stay up until 3am reading kind of books just to find out what happened.

If you’re a fan of The Bachelor (which this book is loosely based upon) or just like a good young adult romance novel then this is the book for you! Since I read this book, I’ve bought some of the authors other novels and from what I’ve read so far they’re all brilliant so its certainly worth checking out some of her others.

Synopsis – 

Bachelor: A desirable potential boyfriend. AKA not Cole Kingston.

Seventeen-year-old Madison (Madi) Matthews wants nothing to do with the dating competition her school is holding to raise money for charity. She’s never been interested in chasing a guy before and she certainly isn’t interested in competing for one in front of the whole school.

But, when Madi is voted as one of the ten “lucky” contestants, she’s given no choice but to vie for the heart of Lincoln High’s most eligible bachelor. The problem is, they’ve chosen the wrong guy.

Cole Kingston might be good looking, great with a football and practically the king of Lincoln High, but he’s also cocky, arrogant, a serial flirt and Madi’s sworn enemy.

Will she be able to resist him though when the competition heats up and he turns his charms on her?

 

Once Upon A Midnight Clear – Jacqueline E. Smith

by melissay1, posted in Book Review

If you get me talking about books it doesn’t take me long to mention how Jacqueline E Smith is one of my favourite authors. I absolutely adore her Boy Band series of books – I mean books about a band and the main character is called Melissa? Its not a surprise I love them really! I’ve read her other books and I loved reading them too so its safe to say that I was very excited to hear a new book, Once Upon A Midnight Clear, was out! It went straight to the top of my to read list.

Once Upon A Midnight Clear is the story of Princess Rosalind. Her whole life she’s been destined to marry Prince Nicolás not because she loves him, but because they’re both royals and the marriage would be a good match. Then Nicolás unexpectedly finds love with a normal girl and almost instantly proposes to her. Rosalind’s life has now fallen in disarray as everything that had been planned in life for her wasn’t possible anymore. Now on top with figuring out her own life she is being presented as a bad guy in the press as she heads to reluctantly spend the festive period with Nicolás and his new bride.

I really enjoyed reading this book. This Christmas I watched a ridiculous amount of Netflix films with a sort of similar story line and the entire time I was reading this book all I could think was how much I wanted this book to be made into a film! It would work so incredibly! I think its such a unique perspective for this kind of story. Normally the story would be told from Brittany’s point of view but this book is told from Rosalind’s perspective. How many stories are told from the person who got rejected in the fairy tale ending? It’s such a great idea for a book and if you like the idea you won’t be disappointed as its such a fantastic, well written story.

When I started reading this book I wasn’t sure what I would think about it. I love the normal girl meets the Prince kind of stories and part of me worried that Rosalind would just be the whining rejected Princess but it certainly wasn’t like this! As Rosalind was only ever just friends with Nicolás she is genuinely pleased that he has found someone he is madly in love with. I think this is important as it makes Rosalind a likeable character, she isn’t out to cause any form of trouble at all. You’re routing for Rosalind the entire way through particularly when she meets a mysterious stranger she actually has real feelings for!

Once Upon A Midnight Clear is technically a Christmas book but really you could read this whenever you wanted and still enjoy it just as much. Its another wonderful book from the author and if you like the cheesy, romantic Christmas movies you will absolutely love this book! The only complaint I have is that I wanted more! I feel like Rosalind’s story is only just beginning, so here’s to keeping our fingers crossed that this book will get a sequel in the future.

Synopsis –

Once upon a time, Princess Rosalind was supposed to marry Prince Nicolás and live happily ever after.

But everything changed when he fell in love with sweet and beautiful Brittany Walker, an American. Now, with Nicolás and Britt’s royal wedding fast approaching, Rosalind is struggling to find her place in a world that is always watching.

Can a visiting Viscount help Rosalind remember who she truly is? Or will a chance meeting with a handsome stranger end up being the Christmas miracle she never knew she needed?

It’s the Classic Christmas Romance…With a Royal Twist!

The Design – R.S. Grey

by melissay1, posted in Book Review, Uncategorised

The Design is the story of Cameron Heart. She’s fresh out of architecture college and into an interview for a position at one of the more prestigious architecture firms. Only downside? She knows she only has this interview as her sister is very close friends with the owner, Grayson Cole. Plus the whole fact that she’s had a crush on him for years certainly complicates her potential boss / employee relationship!

Fun fact about me, every so often I read a book and it’s all I can think about. In fact it gets more than just thinking about it, it completely takes over my life. I read this book over two evenings but for the days I was reading, this book well and truly became my life. I found myself sat at work, worried about Grayson coming into the office and he’s a fictional character! I had to know how this book ended and it really was all I could think about.

I loved Cammie. She was everything you wanted in a main character. She was likeable, she stood up for herself, she worked hard…what more can you want? I even liked Grayson despite him being abit of a twonk at times during this book. I loved how they interacted together too, from her bursting into his office to him turning up at her flat. I think the fact that these characters encroached into my real life cements the fact that these characters are fantastic.

What’s the best thing about the book? The ending, and I certainly mean this in a good way! You spent the whole novel routing for the main characters and the ending is one of the most adorably sweet endings I’ve ever read. It was absolutely everything I needed from this book and I’m going to put this in my top ten of perfect happily after after novels, the kind you just reread when you want that romantic pick me up.

If you can’t tell by now I can’t begin to explain how much I loved this book. If you’re a fan of your romance novels then this book is for you!

Synopsis –

Five minutes until the interview begins.

Fresh on the heels on her college graduation, Cameron Heart has landed an interview at a prestigious architecture firm.

Four minutes until the interview.

She knows she’s only there because the owner, Grayson Cole, is her older sister’s friend.

Three minutes.

For the last seven years, Grayson has been the most intimidating man Cammie has ever had the pleasure, or displeasure, of being around.

Two minutes.

But the job opportunity is too good to pass up. So, Cammie will have to ignore the fact that Grayson is handsome enough to have his own national holiday.

One.

After all, she shouldn’t feel that way about her new boss. And, he will be her new boss.

Taylor Swift – reputation Stadium Tour

by melissay1, posted in Uncategorised

If you don’t know this already, a fact you’ll learn about me very quickly is that I love Taylor Swift and have done for the past ten or so years now. Taylor is the one artist I listen to whose music connects to me more than any other, her lyrics are just so relatable! Top that off with the fact that her shows are, and have always been, magical and just a whole new level to any other show I’ve been to – so its safe to say I was always going to love the fact I could watch her latest tour as many times as I wanted on Netflix.

I was debating whether or not to write anything at all about the reputation tour on Netflix as I’m not sure if I’ll be able to write something like this without it being garbage, but as I’ve near enough watched it every single day since it was released on Netflix on the 31st December it naturally makes sense for it to be this weekends blog post.

Taylor spent the majority of 2018 touring the world with her reputation stadium tour and the Netflix show is the entirety of the show but from a closer than front row seat. The concert begins with a montage of Taylor throughout the years, documenting the negative comments the media has thrown at her throughout her years in the public eye. Taylor’s reputation is a key theme of this tour which is no surprise considering her reputation album was likely written around the time the negativity surrounding her was at its peak. Taylor disappeared from the public eye and now she is back keeping her private life to herself and doing better than she ever was before now she doesn’t care about her reputation.

The concert begins with …Ready For It? which by just the title alone was a perfect choice for the introduction to her stadium tour. This was a fantastic opener when I went to her concert and it is even more incredible watching on the Netflix documentary. This is then followed by one my personal favourites from her reputation album, I Did Something Bad. I just can’t explain how well this song comes across live and I feel that this song really showcases Taylor’s confidence in herself. Its from here Taylor continues performing songs from her reputation album and hits from her previous albums – with Love Story sounding every bit as current as it did when I saw her perform it on her Fearless tour.

A quick outfit change and Taylor moves on to performing her reputation hit, Look What You Made Me Do. This song is Taylor well and truly hitting back at the haters and the song is even performed with a giant snake raising up from the ground. Taylor has just completely embraced the haters but without being petty about it and it just comes across wonderfully on stage. Plus the choreography of the dancers is pretty amazing and one of the cleverest routines I’ve ever seen. I went through a stage last year where people I didn’t know were name calling me and that I was being called out when I did nothing wrong and I listened to this song so much at the time, its nothing like what Taylor went through but for me this song performed live is one of my favourites for that reason. I loved seeing Taylor embrace her ‘snake’ name on stage and I feel that her doing that gives people who are going through a bad time with their own reputations hope that you do get over it and grow stronger as a person from the experience.

This brings me on nicely to when Taylor speaks to the crowd between songs. Every tour I’ve been to her speeches just connect with the crowd and I know from my point of view, every tour I’ve been to of hers she always says the things that I really needed to hear at that point of my life and the reputation tour was no exception. This tour in particular I feel the message she was conveying of trying not to care about what people say about you and how your reputation is perceived to others is such an important one.

What I love about Taylor’s shows is her ability to make sure every single person in the crowd enjoys her shows. She had 2 smaller stages at the back of stadiums on this tour to ensure everyone had a very good view of the show at some point during the night. I feel like the smaller stages were many people’s highlights as it saw Taylor revert back to just her and an acoustic guitar performing stripped backed versions of current songs as well as a surprise mystery song from her back catalogue. The Netflix documentary sees All Too Well, as the mystery song performed that night which I’m fairly sure is most fans favourite song – this is definitely a nice touch for the Netflix show!

Back to the main stage, Taylor performs a mash up of Bad Blood with Should’ve Said No proving that the old Taylor is still around! This was one of my favourite moments of the tour and I’m sure it pleased both fans old and new. Don’t Blame Me was one of my surprise highlights of the show, I was indifferent to the song but when you see it live you just can’t help but love it and because of its live performance it’s now one of my favourites from reputation and one of the ones I’ve watched on loop on Netflix.

After the intensity of Don’t Blame Me, Taylor slows it down with just her and a piano performing a medley of Long Live and New Years Day. New Years Day was my instant I love this song when I listened to reputation for the first time and I’ve adored Long Live since Speak Now was released so for me I couldn’t have asked for a better part of the show. I know I’ve said this a lot but this is also one of my highlights of the show.

Sadly the show comes to an end with Taylor fitting in a couple more songs from reputation before finishing with We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together and This Is Why We Can Have Nice Things – two songs I never would’ve thought worked together but surprisingly do! It’s so sad that the tour is over as I could just watch Taylor perform for hours, particular nowadays as she has a real new found confidence that just oozes out when you’re watching the concert. Plus this show has stepped up a notch from Taylor’s previous tours yet maintained everything you expect from one of her shows.

The reputation tour is my favourite tour I’ve been to in years and if you can’t tell by this blog I’m so thrilled I get to watch it on Netflix. If you’re a fan of Taylor you’ll absolutely love watching and if you’re not a fan and have a Netflix subscription why not give it a watch? I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what an incredible show Taylor puts on.

Did you go to the reputation tour or have you watched the show on Netflix? I’d love to hear what you thought!